Penelope's Pad

SUMMER. FINALLY.

noreply@blogger.com (Cheltz) — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 10:30:00 +0000

This week started to feel a lot more like summer, in that it was relaxing and the weather was lovely. Well, my week was relaxing. Woo's was not. The good news is his new job is interesting and challenging enough for him that he's gone all in. The bad news is he worked over 70 hrs this week on a 25 hr/wk contract. There's probably a lesson to be learned here somewhere.

Penelope and the potty have finally clicked. She's not completely potty trained yet (and Woo always teases me because I announced Ruby potty trained about two days in), but for us it's a process that's difficult to pinpoint exactly, and Penelope is getting herself on the potty when she needs to go most of the time, so for me, that is definite progress.

Moses has really been looking forward to this summer, because the summer before kindergarten is when I let the kids stop taking naps, and have quiet time instead. Except that he's really been taking the transition hard. He's had to take a couple of naps the last two weeks, because he's just been too cranky, but we'll keep going a week or so more and see if he adjusts. I've heard that some kids even take naps into kindergarten, and I'd think he might be a candidate for that, but we found out this week that he has afternoon kindergarten, so that won't work out too well.

We had the ol' your-spirit-might-actually-be-older-than-our-spirit conversation with Herbie, that he was very, very pleased to consider. But, later that night, he told me that he hoped his spirit was taller than my spirit.

Me: Don't you mean older?

Herbie: No, taller. I want to be taller than you!

I can only conclude that Herbie is still trying to make sense of where the authority lies (a very important subject to him), and he seems to have decided recently that height trumps age. I think this might be because even though his teacher is older than us, her age hasn't made us back down whenever he invokes it.

P.S. If you'd like a 7 yr old boy to listen to your entire Sacrament meeting talk, just start with a story involving lawn mowers.

Archie is really, really ticklish in his armpits, and a bit on his belly and neck. It's pretty easy to get him laughing, and it's Woo's favorite thing to do right before I put Archie down for bed. He has a sweet baby laugh that sounds like half a laugh, forced out of a rubber toy. Woo calls it a fat-man laugh.

Last year Ruby had a hard week or two going through school withdrawals, but this summer she has been wonderful from day one. She runs and helps any of the other kids when they ask for something. She's burned through lots and lots of books, spent time folding paper and playing outside, doing her chores happily. Except today. She had a hard day today, but still pretty darn good.

Linus loves his little Skuut balance bike. He's still super slow, so he only gets to ride to the park and part of the way home, but he picks up his feet to glide, loves to ride off of any dip in the road, spends his whole time at the park riding his Skuut around the playground, tries to ride up the front steps, and wants me to see all his tricks, "Mom! Did you see me go super fast?!?" He really is good at skidding out in the gravel and kicking up dirt, though.

I've spent the first couple weeks of summer reviewing with the kids how to correctly clean a toilet, vacuum, empty the dishwasher, etc. I've gotten some higher quality work out of them. We've also decided to stop relying so much on cold cereal for breakfast, and I've been working with the kids on some other options they can get for themselves. So far, so good, and they actually seem to be more full during the day? Or maybe they just aren't as hungry this summer as last for some reason?

Anyway, that's all I've got for the week. Hope you had a good one!

NERDBERT (AND BIG SISTER) (2006)

noreply@blogger.com (Cheltz) — Fri, 14 Jun 2013 10:30:00 +0000

LOVE SEAT: TAKE II

noreply@blogger.com (Cheltz) — Thu, 13 Jun 2013 10:30:00 +0000

I had originally thought that this chair had gobs and gobs of paint on the body, but when I actually took a closer look, I could see that it had only been painted once, by someone who had actually done a very good job. She (I'm assuming here) had applied a light even coat, there were no drips anywhere, and I decided to just spray paint over that.

I did patch up a few dings with wood filler, and then we were good to go.

I primed first, which almost made me wish I was painting it white. But, not for long. I remembered all the fingerprints the white would be showcasing.

Here's the purple,

And the dark grey velvet on the bottom cushion.

Oh, and the reason the previous upholsterer had used such long staples? They're necessary.

PAST BLAST: FATHERS DAY

noreply@blogger.com (Cheltz) — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 10:30:00 +0000

06.16.12

Ruby

My Dad makes me happy when we have a Daddy Day.
My favorite book to read with Dad is Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
My favorite game to play with Dad is Sorry!
My Dad is really good at making smashed potatoes and gravy.
When I grow up, I want to be like my Dad because he makes movies and stuff.
My Dad loves it when I'm good.
My Dad is the best Dad in the world because he makes apps.

Herbie

My Dad makes me happy when he has my Daddy Day.
My favorite book to read with Dad is Lightning McQueen.
My favorite game to play with Dad is Sorry!
My Dad is really good at cooking Daddy Day drinks.
When I grow up, I want to be like my Dad because he is awesome.
My Dad loves it when I play with him.
My Dad is the best Dad in the world because he lets us have Daddy Days.

Moses

My Dad makes me happy when he tells me that he's going to take me to the candy store.
My favorite book to read with Dad is Lightning McQueen and cars.
My favorite game to play with Dad is Lightning McQueen and Sorry! And Candyland.
My Dad is really good at cooking fruits.
When I grow up, I want to be like my Dad because I like him.
My Dad loves it when I give him hugs.
My Dad is the best Dad in the world because he likes me.

PHOTO BLITZ: OKTOBERFEST IN JUNE

noreply@blogger.com (Cheltz) — Tue, 11 Jun 2013 10:30:00 +0000

BUSY WEEK

noreply@blogger.com (Cheltz) — Mon, 10 Jun 2013 10:30:00 +0000

Let's see -- this week we drove down for a family BBQ, had the birthday party gods reject our offering (again), had the insulation bosses come to check their guys work from last week. One of them could've really benefitted from a customer relations course, but once it was clear their guys really had done a horrible job, they sent their crew out and spent another day in our attic. They didn't leave until I had double, triple then quadruple checked every cavity. Woo was too scared to even look at all, but I think we finally got it?? I almost finished the chair I'm reupholstering, and my uncle came to finally bring my birthday and Christmas present (and since, I don't think I've ever given him a birthday present, he's way ahead of me.)

Also, Woo started a new summer job for a very promising start-up. The interview process went something like this:

Woo: Well, I really like working from home, and I'm hesitant to commute somewhere, but I'm just spinning my wheels on my own stuff.

Them: Great! Don't even bother to send us your resume. Just come on down and let's talk some more!

Woo (to me later): I blew it! Why am I such a dumb? I think I was supposed to do the thing they asked me to do in 10 minutes, but I took 2 hrs ...

Them (a few days later): So what are you thinking? How much would you like to be paid? When can you start?

He's just going in once a week and says that his first day was horrible and that he blew everything, but can you see how I'm having a hard time believing him?

We waited until school was out to have Herbie's friend's party for his birthday, thinking that it would be warm and that we could get out the water slide and do some water related things. I checked the weather to pick out the warmest day before printing the invitations. Of course, by the time that day actually rolled around, it was rainy and very, very cold. I should've known because it was on Dad's birthday, and Dad's birthday always seems to be cold. (Happy Birthday again, Dad!)

Luckily, we just ran over to the church and played every game we could think of: relays, twister, sharks-n-minnows, dodgeball, etc. Herbie thought it was a success, I think.

Moses (running in the house after the first fishing trip of the season): Mom!! Dad and I were the only ones to catch anything!!
Me: Oh? Good job, Moses!
Moses: I caught a caterpillar! And Dad caught some fish.

The first line in Ruby's story she wrote today:

"Once upon a time there were six orphans ... "

I have news for you, Ruby. The life of an orphan is not all it's cracked up to be. Especially six of them.

Archie is really going to town on sucking those hands. It's almost like he's getting some teeth, but he's not, as far as I can tell. He does seem to be pretty familiar with his own hands, though, and I've started to wean him off the swaddle. Once he's done with that, I can move him up to the crib.

We discovered this week that Penelope knows her colors. Or at least some of them.

Penelope (pointing at a blue plate): Mom! Boo bate!

Me (carrying two towels towards the tub)

Penelope (pointing to the yellow one): Mom! El-low one!

Linus loves Herbie's tiny, little soccer ball. It's really at about the perfect size for him, and he'll get out and dribble it a bit around the yard, and even attempt to pass it to Penelope. (She's not the best at passing the ball back).

I hope you all had a great week!

RUBY AT THE POOL (2006)

noreply@blogger.com (Cheltz) — Fri, 07 Jun 2013 10:30:00 +0000

PAST BLAST: CHICAGO

noreply@blogger.com (Cheltz) — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 10:30:00 +0000

06.21.09

Random Chicago Stuff:

Chicago is a lot more fun of a city than I thought. There's a beach, tons of stuff to do and any store you could ever imagine. I understood for the first time why anyone would go there for fun or even for their honeymoon.
The 5 1/2 hr train ride felt shorter than a 3 hr flight---more space, more for the kids to look at out of the window, and we could walk around.

The kids sleep much better in a hotel room than they do in a tent.
I can't believe I've gone 32 years without ever having Chicago style pizza... it's fantastic! Woo and I were both craving it the night we got back. I'm wondering how hard it would be to make.

The iPod costumes turned out better than I was expecting, and they were an absolute hit. We had people asking us if they could take pictures of the kids before we even got to the Apple store.

Moses was the most popular. Women would sigh and gasp whenever they'd see him toddling around in his little costume.

The local NBC station shot the kids and interviewed Woo, but we didn't see it on the news :(
The kids had their picture taken about a million times, but by the time the photographer from Apple came out to take their picture, Herbie was at the end of his rope and refused to cooperate.
Our biggest mistake was not slapping something related to Woo's app on the kids. They caught everyone's attention, but most people probably just thought we were iPod fanatics.
Ruby was great at handing out flyers, which was lucky because neither of her parents were.

Herbie made us smile every time he said, "shee-(pause)-KAA-go." And he said it a lot.
I was surprised by the large number of runners through the city at all times of day, and by the large amount of kids.
Our kids LOVED the beach. We would've gone again, but I was physically not prepared to deal with that kind of mess more than once. They wouldn't have had any clothes to wear home.

Ruby ended up covered from head to foot with sand.
Herbie kept the mess to his hands and feet, and mostly avoided the water.
Moses spent most of his time on the walkway or in the water. He'd back off the walkway into a foot of water, cry the whole time it took to walk back to me, and then he'd do it again.

Somehow Ruby managed to wake up Saturday morning with gum in her hair. We're scared to hypothesize on where she got it, but I cut it out when we got home. She now has bangs.

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PAST BLASTS are weekly emails I wrote to family and friends over the past 5 years. Pictures are contemporaneous with the email, but have been added later.

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PHOTO BLITZ: SUMMER!

noreply@blogger.com (Cheltz) — Tue, 04 Jun 2013 10:30:00 +0000

ALL FROM THE SAME MOLD

noreply@blogger.com (Cheltz) — Mon, 03 Jun 2013 10:30:00 +0000

Lately, I've had a lot of people tell me that my kids all look the same. It will go something like this:

Herbie's Teacher (pointing to Archie): Have you guys met this little guy yet?

Don't you think he looks just like Herbie?

Some Kid: I'll tell you who looks just like Herbie!

(runs and sticks his finger in Linus' face)

Him!

Or,

Woman (meeting Archie for the first time):

Some families -- they all look the same don't they!

Other Woman (agreeing):

Yes, it's like they're all from the same mold!

(turning to each other):

Now my kids, they all look totally different ...

Or,

Another Woman (smiling at Archie): Oh, look at him!

All your kids are from the exact same mold!

Now, it seems to me that what people really mean to say is that Archie, Herbie and Linus (half my kids) look a lot a like, because I've never had anyone tell me that Ruby, Moses or Penelope look anything like any of the other kids.

Or am I wrong? Do all of my kids really look alike, and I just can't see it because I'm their mother?

Archie's smiling more and more. He's even smiling at strangers now. I can tell he's smiled at someone when I'm wearing him in my wrap because he'll throw his head to the side, and kick his chubby legs back and forth in unison. He just can't smile without moving his entire body.

Poor Moses is our bee and wasp magnet. He got stung several times last year, even twice in one day once. I think that taught him to quit running over the clover in bare feet. But, he's already been stung this year just lying in bed. Woo and I were still upstairs kissing kids goodnight, and we'd just closed Moses' door when we heard his pretty distinct I've-just-been-stung scream. Woo swatted the wasp, but we couldn't find it until the next morning, and then I stupidly stung myself through a tissue while moving it to the garbage.

In the last month or so, Herbie has learned how to snap his fingers, and he does it constantly. It thankfully is not popping his knuckles, but it reminds me of that a bit. One night while checking on the kids before bed, I moved Herbie, who was still asleep, to his bed. He raised both his hands up for a good double snap, and then sunk to the ground.

Herbie insisted on buying these bike gloves at a garage sale today, which made Woo and I remember how awesome we thought bike gloves were at that age. We just need to find Herbie a pair of bike shorts with fluorescent pink or green panels in the side now.

This is a staple in Linus' prayers:

Thank you we have enuff, nuff, nuff, nuff, nuff, nuff, day.

He'll add more "nuffs" for a "better" prayer.

We went to visit Ruby and Herbie for a bit on field day. Woo wowed all the kids (except his own kids?) with his double jump roping skills during lunch recess. I didn't even think to get the camera out when he had a huge crowd of kids gathered around him, and one little boy actually yelled, "Wow, Ruby! Your dad is SO cool!!"

He continued the playground rebel theme by going home and lighting dandelions with a lighter.

One of my new favorite things to do is to ask Penelope to give the other kids hugs. I like it because anyone who's mad will smile and laugh, and because this is what Penelope does:

Me: Penelope, can you give Linus a hug?

Penelope (shaking her head angrily): No!!!

(But then, she looks at Linus, gets a huge smile on her face, and runs to hug him)

Me: Can you give Archie a hug?

Penelope (shaking her head angrily): No!!!

(But, looks at Archie, gets a huge smile on her face, and runs to hug him)

And so on ...

I bet all the other kids at school were jealous of Ruby's "tank sandwich" made from hot dog buns and spaghetti noodles.

Hope you had a good week!

NEWBORN HERBIE (2006)

noreply@blogger.com (Cheltz) — Fri, 31 May 2013 10:30:00 +0000

STARTING THE LOVE SEAT

noreply@blogger.com (Cheltz) — Thu, 30 May 2013 10:30:00 +0000

This is a love seat that I picked up on ksl.com last summer for $25, and I'm now ready to refinish her. As, you can see she's in pretty bad shape, and the colors are all wrong. One reason that I was excited about this chair, is that I could tell that it would be an easy upholstery job. No sewing. Just demo, paint, staple and glue.

I did decide to put this in the living room, and I think that I already have all the supplies I'll need: Dark grey velvet ($2 at the thrift store), can of spray paint that I already had (I've decided on the purple, or aubergine, I should say), floral fabric and rickrack that I already had ... I'm excited!

I'll show you some progress pictures later, but I've already taken the whole thing apart, and I'm pretty sure that's going to be the hardest part -- the person who redid the chair before me used a million, super-long staples. I get to paint the frame tomorrow!

PAST BLAST: A WEEK

noreply@blogger.com (Cheltz) — Wed, 29 May 2013 10:30:00 +0000

06.14.09

One morning at breakfast Ruby was apparently weighing the pros and cons of doing bad stuff because the second I walked into another room, I heard her tell Herbie, "I wish Heavenly Father and Jesus were bad... because then they would like it when I did something bad!"

Ruby is a very generous little girl. She gets two spoonfuls of ice cream after every successful reading lesson, and she always gives one of them to Herbie.

Also, Ruby may finally be through with naps. She's only fallen asleep once this week, although she's laid quietly in bed while the rest of napped. I think I'll just continue to let her do that... a little quiet time never hurt anyone.

I couldn't wait, and went right out and bought a little travel alarm clock for Herbie. **This was an attempt to keep him dry at night** The first night was very discouraging, because he didn't even stir with the alarm going off right in his ear, but a quick google search showed me that a child can be taught to wake up to an alarm, and I shifted my focus to that.

The next night I was thrilled when he woke up and turned off the alarm himself before I even got there. But the next time it went off, he was lost in a deep, deep sleep. "Herbie, Herbie! Your alarm!" He sat up, looked at the alarm, then laid down and closed his eyes. "Herbie, turn off your alarm!" He looked at me very confused, "Why?" "Because it's going off!" He stared again at the clock with complete surprise, "Oh."

I don't think he even noticed the sound until it stopped, and then a huge smile of pride crossed his face.

He really loves being able to control that clock.

For a few nights there Moses tried out a funny ritual for getting to sleep. He'd crouch right up with his head against the crib. Then he'd rock back and forth on his knees, so that his head went "thump, thump, thump, ..." against the bed.

All this while sucking his thumb.

He seems to have given it up. I don't think it was very effective.

I'm in the middle of transitioning Moses from two naps a day to one. I think we made too big of a jump today because he was pretty grouchy.

The good news is: Woo finally took the plunge and bought an iPhone.

The bad news is: He won't get it in time for our trip to Chicago this week. The new iPhone comes out on Saturday, and Woo figures that there will be enough people lined up at the huge Apple Store there, that it's worth a trip to try and promote his app. He has visions of the kids dressed up as iPods... I'm still trying to figure out how to achieve that. We're taking the train up, and spending a few days to check out the sites. The kids are super excited, and I am too.

And I've discovered that a warm glass of milk is my new best friend. I've had a hard time going back to sleep after being up with Herbie at 3:30 am a couple of times, and that warm milk always does the trick. I don't know why I never tried it before... didn't believe it would work, thought it would taste gross... I don't know, but it's awesome.

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PAST BLASTS are weekly emails I wrote to family and friends over the past 5 years. Pictures are contemporaneous with the email, but have been added later.

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PHOTO BLITZ: LEFTOVERS

noreply@blogger.com (Cheltz) — Tue, 28 May 2013 10:30:00 +0000

THIS WEEK'S TOP 11 (in no particular order)

noreply@blogger.com (Cheltz) — Mon, 27 May 2013 10:30:00 +0000

1. Penelope makes us laugh with her crazy, scrunch face.

2. Ruby wins the Top Dog Award (for "a dog-gone good job," of course!)

3. Someone leaves a thoughtful gift for the mailman.

4. Archie gets confused by Woo's thumb.

5. Herbie teaches his class how to make claws out of paper for the 1st Grade Show-n-Teach.

6. Penelope starts to get little girl length hair.

7. I go for a pleasant, evening run.

8. Woo introduces the kids to Led Zeppelin.

9. Which motivates Linus to build a 3-tiered hat.

10. And Herbie and Moses to form a faux-hawk rock band.

11. And Moses graduates from Joy School.

I hope you all had a great week!

NEWBORN RUBY (2004)

noreply@blogger.com (Cheltz) — Fri, 24 May 2013 10:30:00 +0000

MINI-UPHOLSTERY PROJECT

noreply@blogger.com (Cheltz) — Thu, 23 May 2013 10:30:00 +0000

I've been putting off finishing the bathroom for the last 2 years, might as well make it a few more weeks ... I'm kind of tired of paint prep and painting to be honest, so I decided that recovering this barstool would be more fun.

This barstool was working really well for us, until someone (Moses!) decided to see what would happen if he picked at it a little bit.

This is really going to surprise you, but this is what happened:

I liked the texture in the vinyl, and wanted to replace it with something that also had a bit of texture to it. My first idea was to pick up an old sweater at the thrift store, or maybe a jacket? But, instead I came back with this corduroy remnant.

Which works fine.

Short and sweet, and so much fun that I've had another idea to distract me from the bathroom ...

MY VERY FIRST "PAST BLAST"

noreply@blogger.com (Cheltz) — Wed, 22 May 2013 10:30:00 +0000

6.25.08

Woo's parents and a lot of his siblings write a weekly email, and even though they usually just have humdrum stuff in them, I enjoy reading them to see what people are up to. Last night I was thinking that maybe I should do something like this and send it to you guys **my family and friends**, especially since email is a comfortable and accessible medium for me (as opposed to the phone). If you don't like these just tell me that you want off the list, or just quietly delete them when they come in to save me from shedding bitter tears.

We are doing pretty well. The weather has been great--80s with frequent rain, so our plants and garden are looking nice, and the house is a pleasant temperature.

The app has quit taking up tons of Woo's time, so he's been coming to bed at a decent time and watching the kids for a half hour in the morning for me again. But we're not rich yet, and may never be.

We went to the zoo last Monday for family home evening. Herbie loved the animals. Ruby kept saying she was hungry. She really wanted some of that fun food they sell at the zoo that everyone else was walking around with. Moses slept.

Ruby has all of her letters down really well. I guess I should start teaching her the sounds each letter makes so that she can start sounding out words. She can occasionally count to 12, but frequently gets hung up on the number 6. 1-5 and 7-12 are great.

Ruby loves to pretend that she is someone else. In the past two days she's been President Monson (where she wears one of Herbie's suits), Herbie (where she wears one of Herbie's T-shirts and some of his shorts), and Chuck (a kid in our branch--no costume).

Herbie's taken Ruby's lead in taking on other roles. His favorite the past couple of days has been Woo (he calls him Dad). Herbie, as Dad, rides his bike to work (around the house), parks it in the basement (his bedroom), rides the train (sits in the closet), and is sick or is having a bad day (lies in bed). Luckily, President Monson has been on hand to administer medicine on those instances when he's in bed.

Herbie picked up a biting habit from another little boy in nursery, but I think we've got it taken care of. It's been quite a few days since he's bitten anyone.

Moses is now eating every 4 hours instead of 3, so that has been nice for me. He's awake more, and a lot more responsive. He greets us all with a wide grin when he sees us.

I started putting Moses on the potty last week, but I think I accidently trained him into thinking that I want him to pee when he's lying his back. I started giving him the signal whenever he would pee months ago (usually when he was lying on his back), but now when i set him on and give him the signal, he struggles, but doesn't pee. As soon as I lie him down to do something else, he pees and smiles at me. **I did EC with Herbie and Moses. Worked like a charm with Herbie. I seem to have messed it up with Moses.**

I recently decided to spend a half hour working out in the yard after the kids go to bed. Woo has been coming out with me, and we've got quite a bit done in just a week. Our corn, tomatoes and beans all look good, and we may actually get all of our poison ivy killed off this year.

I am also teaching seminary this week. I'm still working with the previous seminary teachers through the summer. They held seminary on Sundays during Sunday School, so that's when we do it. I've only actually taught twice so far, so it's taking me awhile to figure out how to adjust my teaching to high school kids. I'm used to teaching adults not teenagers. Anyway, hopefully, I'll get it right this week. I've got two personal stories that ought to keep them from snoozing while reading parts of the Book of Joshua and questions I think they can answer.

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PAST BLASTS are weekly emails I wrote to family and friends over the past 5 years. Pictures are contemporaneous with the email, but have been added later.

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PHOTO BLITZ: OUTSIDE!!

noreply@blogger.com (Cheltz) — Tue, 21 May 2013 10:30:00 +0000

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME

noreply@blogger.com (Cheltz) — Mon, 20 May 2013 10:30:00 +0000

I've really been itching to read some novels lately, so I decided to do something new for my birthday this year -- a week long reading binge. Of course, it couldn't really be a complete binge, I have people I need to keep alive and give attention too, but I got a tall stack of highly recommended books from the library, and planned to lose myself in a book in my spare time. I started out strong, reading 5 books in 2.5 days, and loving every minute of it. (How is it that I've never read Jane Austen's Persuasion before??) But I got bogged down by the beginning of Code Name Verity, and although, I finished it, I didn't find it to be as amazing as everyone else did. And then I was done, ready to return to my usual life. I didn't make it a week, but I got enough reading in to be satiated.

Herbie was an elephant in the 1st grade opera. They must've learned something from last year because the operas were shorter, and much more enjoyable for everyone. The kids definitely peter out at about the 10 minute mark, and probably most of the audience too.

One night I overheard Herbie praying by himself. I couldn't hear most of what he said, but I could tell that he was praying, and he went on for quite awhile. I did finally hear some words clearly, and heard him pray about something that is definitely important to him. I love that he prays on his own about his concerns.

I also love when he gets sent up to his room to cool off, and a slow, brooding melody from the concertina or harmonica drifts down to us.

Herbie (explaining the facts to his little brothers):

Ginger ale is made of gingerbread.

And ale.

Which is water.

Herbie, it appears, is now capable of sleeping in. Ruby still can not. She doesn't seem to have enough time in the day to do all the reading and paper folding and running around outside and playing with friends and writing stories and building things (and so on) that she would like to do. I'm glad that school will be out soon!

Here she is making origami "claws" and then stacking them to make a surprisingly sturdy sword.

Moses (on Ruby's arrival at the park):

We beat you here ruby!!

We went way TOO fast!

The police almost pulled us over!

(seeing Woo laughing)

I saw a policeman behind us!

Moses: Mom, do you like snakes, 'cause I'm making snakes for you!

Chelsey: Umm ... I guess.

Moses (changing his mind?): I hate snakes!

Moses: Mom, we've cleaned up! Can I pick a movie now?

Me (hoping for some variety): Ok. But, you can't pick Cars.

Moses (disgusted): I don't even want Cars.

(But, the mere mention of the word made him reconsider.)

Why can't we pick Cars??

Ruby and Herbie are usually the ones who give us the correct answers to our random questions, but Moses has been surprising us lately.

Woo: Do you guys know what the most common way to die is?

(Ruby and Herbie rack their brains.)

Moses: Getting shot!

Woo: Good guess, but no.

Me: That's actually very rare.

Moses: Getting sick!

Me: It's a kind of getting sick.

Moses: A fever?

Us: No.

Moses: A heart attack!

Us: Yes!! Good job, Moses!

Herbie: I was about to say that.

One thing I learned this week is that if you have a three year old get something stuck up their nose, they are not going to be much help in getting it out.

Me: Where is it Linus, is it in this nostril?

Linus: Yes!

Me (pointing to the opposite nostril): This nostril?

Linus: Yes!

Me: Ok. (Trying a different tact) How big was it? (making a circle with my fingers) Was it this big?

Linus: Yes!

Me (changing the size of the circle): This big?

Linus: Yes!

Me (changing it once again): This big?

Linus: Yes!

In fact, they won't even tell you that they've stuffed something up there for several days, and you'll realize that that stinky breath you've been smelling is actually coming from their nose.

I was ready to take him in to the doctor, but steady-hand Woo equipped with his iPhone and tweezers got it out.

Linus is just as helpful in a game of hide-and-seek.

Linus (to Woo): We playing hide and seek.

Moses (from other room): You can come.

Linus: Upstairs?

Moses: Yes.

Linus (to Woo): Where is Moses?

Do you remember this dress, Grandma? I think you made it. It's been worn by me, Ruby and now Penelope.

One of Archie's little quirks is that he does not like his eyes covered. His first few days of life, he wore a little, knit hat. One day he was crying, I walked in the room to see the hat over his eyes. I pulled it off, he took a deep sigh, and settled back down to sleep.

Because of this Archie is slightly more work than no work during church. I was able to carry the other kids in a covered carseat, while they slept during church, until they were about 6 months old. Archie hates his line of vision to be obstructed, so I can't cover the carseat (unless I want him to cry), and he doesn't sleep during church. He does sit there calmly, but it's not quite as easy as a sleeping baby.

Moses: Mom, why do we think Archie is so CUTE?

Did you know that Amazon sells Lays potato chips?

And that they'll ship them for free if you spend at least $15?

And that they'll get there in just 2 days?

Woo does.

HERBIE AND HIS FATHER (2006)

noreply@blogger.com (Cheltz) — Fri, 17 May 2013 10:30:00 +0000

PAST BLAST: ANNUAL HAIRCUTS

noreply@blogger.com (Cheltz) — Wed, 15 May 2013 10:30:00 +0000

5.24.09

Ruby, Herbie and Woo got their annual haircuts for FHE this week.

Herbie was terrified of the buzzer so I had to do it by hand. I was not excited, but it went fine.

I cut Ruby's quite a bit shorter than I was planning, and took about 5 snips total. Surprisingly, it looks pretty good, and she's gotten tons of compliments on it.

It reminds me a bit of the short haircut Lyndy used to have, and I couldn't help thinking of the similarity when she came out of her room the next morning wearing leggings and a t-shirt.

Moses has been a sporadic walker this week. I thought he would just pick it right up, like the other kids had after their first success, but Moses prefers to get to most places fast, and walking just isn't cutting it right now. For a couple of days there, he would only walk for his Dad. Whenever he'd see him, he'd stand up and walk a bit.

Moses is at that very inconvenient for church age: 12-18 months. Too young for nursery, but there's no way he's going to sit on our laps or on the floor quietly for 3 hours. Sacrament is fine, but it's exhausting wrestling with him or following him all over the other 2 hours.

Herbie mentioned Grandpa. I asked him what he does.

"He works."

"Works?"

"He works... And he vacuums!"

**My dad does, in fact, do a lot of vacuuming around the house.**

Herbie is really, really good on his skuut. He rode gracefully down a long curved hill at the cemetery with his feet carefully held inches from the ground. He was so pleased with himself, but then lost all his confidence when he took a curve too fast (Woo had just been teaching him and Ruby how to race) and slid into a fence. After some hugs, he opted to walk the bike home.

Ruby spills all to anyone we meet at a playground. She usually opens by telling them the names of everyone in our family. Then she will mention something from that day that's on her mind, and then she'll say something religious that makes absolutely no sense like, "I'm President Uchtdorf!" or "When I'm older I can ride on that swing, AND I can be baptized!" or "Heavenly Father loves it! We will die, and then we will live again!"

Most people just nod their heads.

I chuckled for a while after Steven stumbled out of the bedroom, ordered Ruby to go wash her face, sent Herbie off to do something else, and then realized what he was doing, "That's right kids, I'm up, and I'm ready to micromanage!"

Remember when Woo thought that having his app in the top 20 (in his category) was his ultimate goal? Well he's been there easily for the last month. But, of course he can't just rest with that.

Woo has spent no money and no time on promotion, but he's doing so well because of his excellent customer service. People just want to help him after he's answered their questions, or listened to their concerns.

I (and the kids) went running twice with two girls from church. It was pretty fun. I'll probably start running once a week with one of them. I felt really good at Ultimate this week. I even started scoring goals and outrunning Woo when he was guarding me (he may or may not have sliced his bare foot on something near the end of the game... )

One of the girls there convinced me to sign up for a 10K tomorrow. The distance doesn't scare me, the pacing does. I have no idea how to run a 10K, but I'm not going to learn without doing it a few times.

Wish me luck! **read how that went here**

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PAST BLASTS are weekly emails I wrote to family and friends over the past 5 years. Pictures are contemporaneous with the email, but have been added later.

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PHOTO BLITZ: HAPPINESS IS WAKING UP IN A TENT

noreply@blogger.com (Cheltz) — Tue, 14 May 2013 10:30:00 +0000

BIRTHDAY BOY

noreply@blogger.com (Cheltz) — Mon, 13 May 2013 10:30:00 +0000

Herbie did a lot of fun stuff for his birthday. He got to eat two eggs for breakfast, opened presents before school (I'm happy to report that watches are still a big hit with the 1st grade set -- even in this iPhone era), handed out treats to his class, got called to the office for a card from the Principal, got a card and small gift from his teacher, ate lunch in the park with Woo (with a lunch he'd already taken nibbles out of while packing it in the morning), went on a bike ride and played frisbee for his Daddy Day, ate tacos and strawberry shortcake for dinner, ran sprints around the house (because, as everyone knows, that's the best thing to do when you get your own watch), had his Story Night with me ...

But, his favorite thing he did all day? Helping Woo mow the lawn for the first time this year.

He went to sleep a very happy and satisfied boy.

Ruby came home from school one day very upset. It took both Woo and I talking to her and a couple of periods of cooling down before we finally found out that a kid on the bus had threatened her with one of the most important things to her -- loss of friendship -- because she was being obedient to her parents and refusing to trade (we had to outlaw that one when she started bringing home potentially harmful or valueable things). After talking to her and telling her we were proud of her for doing the right thing, she felt much better. It's a lesson that can't be learned too soon, I think.

And we may have finally, finally worked out a successful night plan with Ruby. She goes to sleep on time, and we let her stay up an extra half hour on Friday nights reading. None of our kids seem to be so affected by loss of sleep as Ruby, and so far, so good.

Woo and Penelope play the same game every morning. Woo sits down to eat his breakfast (usually from the stash of sweetened cereal he keeps in his office, and after the rest of us have already eaten), Penelope will run to the kitchen and fetch a bowl. Then she'll run back to the table, holding the bowl out in front of her, and calling to Dad. Woo will put one piece of cereal in the bowl, and Penelope will hug it to herself, eat her piece, and hold out the bowl to Woo again and again.

Actually, it doesn't have to be breakfast and it doesn't have to be sweetened cereal. Whatever he's eating, Penelope will want some, and she'll act like it's a delicious treat, even if it's something she doesn't like normally.

Archie is now eating every 4 hours instead of 3. He gets to stay awake longer staring at his little fist and smiling at passersby with his whole body, and I get more time. For the first time since I got pregnant with him, I feel like the unrelenting mess is mine to vanquish. Not the other way around. I even cleaned almost all the carpets this week.

We had our recurring family home evening on strangers and related topics (Yes, we know that the kids are more likely to be hurt by someone they know, and we talk about that too), but it definitely made an impression on Linus.

Linus (coming in from playing outside): I come in because there's a lawn mower out there.

Me (surprised): You're scared of lawn mowers?

Linus: Yeah. The guy on the lawnmower going to 'neak us.

Me: Sneak you?

Linus: Yeah. And I'm going to cry.

It's good to be cautious, not sure about too cautious, but I'm sure he'll regain his love of lawn mowers in a few weeks.

The weather finally turned wonderful towards the end of the week, and Woo moved his office outside to the hammock. It works pretty well when the rest of us aren't out there pestering him. He also went fishing and mountain biking, and he likes to say things like, "I hate living here." while staring out at the mountains.

Moses has a giant crush on a little girl in Joy School. He has a blurry, beat-up picture of his classmates dressed up for the nativity, that he keeps by his bed to look at her. The thing is, I'm pretty positive she has a crush on a different little boy in the class. My heart aches a little thinking that Moses will almost certainly have his heartbroken a few times in life. I hope that he'll be the better for it, not the worse, and will someday find a woman just as sweet and sensitive as he is.

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LINKS WORTH SHARING

Have you seen this haunting color footage of London in 1927? I loved it, and also couldn't help but think of what those people and the city would be going through in 10 years.

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AB WORKOUT (2006)

noreply@blogger.com (Cheltz) — Fri, 10 May 2013 10:30:00 +0000